Federal cabinet issues directives for forensic audit of loss making entities

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said on Tuesday forensic audit of 10 loss making entities would be held under the directives of federal cabinet.

Addressing a press conference along with Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar here he said Pakistan Railway, Sui Southern Gas Pipeline Company, Pakistan International Airlines were among the enterprises which were running in loss, adding that the audit would be completed by June 30 this year.

Briefing media persons after federal cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, he said 51 out of 85 loss-making State Owned Enterprises have become profitable due to prudent policies of the government.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan has been personally monitoring the prices of daily use commodities and all possible steps were being taken to provide relief to the common man.

Fawad Chaudhry said when Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) came to power, the economy was in a shambles but the government had taken all possible steps to protect the poor segments of the society from the effects of inflation and price hike.

He said good news was that Utility Stores Corporation was ruined during the previous regimes but due to efforts of the present government, it would come out of loss by the end of the year.

The minister said the cabinet expressed its concern over the increasing incidents of the corona virus and expressed the hope that Pakistan would also handle the third phase the way it had handled the first two phases.

He said the pandemic had played havoc with the health systems and economies of many developed countries but Pakistan due to timely action and effective policies was successful in saving the lives and livelihood of the people.

Chaudhry Fawad said at the start of the meeting the Prime Minister highlighted the issue of transparency in the electoral system. PTI had two important points in its manifesto which included accountability and transparency in elections.

The prime minister directed for introduction of electronic voting system and also focused that every week the cabinet should be apprised of the process of introduction of electronic voting machines.

He said there were some political forces which would always disputed the election process but the government wanted to ensure transparency for the satisfaction of the general public.

He said the cabinet gave approval to the proposal of appointment of Raja Mazhar as Managing Director of National Book Foundation.

The cabinet also gave approval to end the ban on issuance of prohibited and non-prohibited bore licenses of arms by approving the comprehensive license policy.

He said the cabinet also discussed the issue of improper use of petroleum companies CSR. Now rules have been changed and Minister for Petroleum has been authorized to monitor the entire process of CSR utilization.

He said the cabinet gave approval to the proposal of issuing smart cards to registered Afghan refugees and this decision was part of the prime minister’s policy of providing relief to the poor people.

The cabinet was informed that this year 400,000 new gas connections have been given whereas the target was 600,000 by the end of the current fiscal year.

The next year the target would be issuing 1.2 million new gas connections. He said so far only 27 per cent residents had been provided piped gas facility whereas 67 per cent were still without this important facility.

He said reforms were being done in the gas sector and a new system would be introduced to bring these 67 per cent in this regime.

He said the cabinet also briefed on structural reforms and it was decided that in future latest audit paragraphs would come up before the public accounts committee to promote the timely process of parliamentary supervision and accountability.

The Minister for Science and Technology said tax exemption was granted on auto-disable syringes to prevent spread of various diseases.